Hi, Anne! My neighborhood in RI is filled with thick beds of mulch that inhibit not only weeds, but filling in of desirable plants via reseeding, stolons or rhizomes, so the beds never fill in and the plants sit alone like islands in a sea of mulch. That’s what I’m calling a mulch bed. A very different look with far less ecological value than the tightly planted gardens you see at Chelsea.
I think it’s an American thing, driven partly by what’s easy for now and blow crews. I’ve been to many public gardens in England and have not seen mulch beds like we have, nor do I see them in magazine images of residential gardens.
What is a mulch bed? Are they the reason some people deplore the beneficial use of mulches?
Hi, Anne! My neighborhood in RI is filled with thick beds of mulch that inhibit not only weeds, but filling in of desirable plants via reseeding, stolons or rhizomes, so the beds never fill in and the plants sit alone like islands in a sea of mulch. That’s what I’m calling a mulch bed. A very different look with far less ecological value than the tightly planted gardens you see at Chelsea.
Hi and thanks. This is an American thing and quite ordinary there??
I think it’s an American thing, driven partly by what’s easy for now and blow crews. I’ve been to many public gardens in England and have not seen mulch beds like we have, nor do I see them in magazine images of residential gardens.
And why are Americans so phobic about ivy?
Thank you for clarifying this for me.